CarolJ - just how difficult and/or expensive is it to get your NPIP certification? I am kinda in your situation (where I'd like to sell eggs/chicks on down the line), but wasn't sure how hard it was for a small flock...thanks!
Call Tina Rogers at the Dept of Agriculture, (615)837-5120. She will put you in touch with whoever does the testing in your area. The guy that did ours (Thomas Percer - a very nice young man!) called and set up the appointment. We had the chickens in the run where we could catch them easily. He walked right into the run with us and set up his testing supplies there. We'd catch a bird and hold it while he lifted the wing, pricked a spot under the wing to get a drop of blood. After he put the drop of blood onto the testing block he'd set up, he would then swab the chicken's mouth. That was it. They only test the chickens that are 6 months or older. And they don't swab the mouths of all of them. I think he did maybe 10 - just a sampling of the flock. When he finished all the testing, he filled out some paperwork - gave me copies of that. Then he gave me the form I had to complete and send, along with a check for $25, to the Dept of Agriculture. So you don't pay anything the day of testing. You mail it in afterwards. He said it shouldn't take more than a few days to get my certification card. I'll let you know how long it takes. I mailed the form & check this morning.
I have 46 chickens - but only 17 are over 6 months old. So it took less than an hour from the time he drove up to the time he was driving away.
If you have more than one of the same breed, it would make it easier if you have a way to identify which chickens had been tested. We kept catching the same Welsummer. He'd lift the wing and see that he'd already tested that one. It got ridiculous after the third time.
All 3 of my Welsummers look identical, and once we set her down and they were altogether again, there was no way to tell which one she was without catching her and looking. Next time, we will close the pop door to the coop - and as we finish them, we'll put them into the coop. That way we won't catch the same one more than once. But the 3 Welsummers and 2 EEs that look identical were the only ones that caused any confusion for us. So it was no big deal. However, if you have many of the same breed, it could be a major issue!
I almost cancelled having the testing done, but now I'm glad I did. It was much easier than I had anticipated. If you decide to do it, make sure you have an easy way to catch your chickens. We used a large fishing net. Other people put the chickens in crates beforehand.
Hope that's the information you needed! Good luck!
